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When Laura Verrett's youngest son was born prematurely in March, the 3-pound-13-ounce infant only needed a fraction of the breast milk she was producing.

With a freezer-full of pumped milk in storage, Verrett considered it good news when she learned the Mothers' Milk Bank at Austin could use some of her supply for infants in neonatal intensive care units.

"I was so happy I was able to do something with it, and it wouldn't go to waste," said the Cypress Fairbanks-area resident, whose baby now weighs 8 pounds.

"I'm a big believer in breast feeding. It's nice to know the babies who need it the most are able to have the milk."

Now Verrett and other area moms have a nearby drop-off point for the milk they give.

Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center has opened a depot to accept donations for the Mother's Milk Bank at Austin. The nonprofit organization supplies donated human milk to hospitals throughout Texas and 20 other states.

The milk, which is pasteurized to be safe for medically fragile infants, is provided through a doctor's prescription.

The Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center milk depot, on the second floor of the hospital at 10655 Steepletop Drive., accepts donations 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

The hospital established the milk depot to better serve the community, lactation specialist Jocelyn Possehl said.

"We noticed mothers in the community were having to drive as far as downtown Houston to donate milk," Possehl said.

It also seemed fitting to support the milk bank program, she added, since the hospital now provides its milk to NICU patients.

"We just began in the beginning of the year," Possehl said. "We've had several babies receive milk so far."

Human milk can be a key to survival for premature newborns, said Kim Updegrove, executive director of Mother's Milk Bank at Austin.

Newborns who are 3½ pounds and smaller have a higher rate of death and infection when they're fed formula, opposed to human milk, Updegrove said. Premature newborns on formula also are more prone to develop necrotizing enterocolitis, an acute inflammatory disease of the intestines that can lead to permanent complications, she said.

In some cases, mothers can provide newborns with milk themselves.

But first-time mothers of premature infants are less likely to be able to produce the full milk supply their newborns need.

Mothers who hemorrhaged during their child's birth find it difficult to provide enough milk at first, too, and others on medication can't always safely provide milk for fragile newborns.

Moms who opt to donate typically have an infant or premature newborn younger than age 1, but the milk bank also receives milk at times from mothers whose baby didn't live.

"These mothers are giving in honor of their child who didn't survive," Updegrove said. "It is facilitating the process of healing."

The milk bank is always looking for additional donors.

"There isn't enough donor milk for every fragile infant, but there could be if every lactating mother called the milk bank," Updegrove said.

Donor moms should not be regularly using medications or herbal supplements. They are asked to donate at least 100 ounces of milk initially and to continue pumping to donate as they are able.